Masala Chai is a fictional romance combined with an explosive exposé of corrupt Indian politicians and their mishandling of poverty. Entwined with many heartfelt stories, it is a saga of intense love, struggle, despair, and ecstasy, which highlights the problems of the indigent slum dwellers in India. Bharti—a British pediatrician of Indian origin who is born, brought up, and educated in England—returns to India with a mission to help the poor but, above all, to be with the love of her life, Vijay, whom she met on an earlier visit. They decide to pursue their mission to help the poor, not knowing that their mission would turn into a struggle for survival. --- from the publisher Vinod Luthra was born in India. A tryst with destiny gave India its independence from the British Colonial Raj; at the same time, it made millions homeless and refugees. At that time of India-Pakistan partition, his family was caught in the Hindu-Muslim riots, which claimed a million dead; next, he was packed in the back of a car in a cage of steel bars with his mother and three siblings. His father drove through bullets to Amritsar, India, from an area called Sargodha, which is now in Pakistan. He grew up in traumatic times and poverty for a few years, and living with indigent orphans, he felt the plight of the poor. His father, after starting all over again and through his hard work, became affluent once again and decided to send Vinod for higher studies to England. Within two years, Vinod lost his father and was thrown into the clutches of hardship once again. Working and studying at the same time, he completed his mechanical engineering studies in England and then moved to Canada in 1967, where he has been living ever since. He has visited India often and is always moved by the plight of the poor. He has written his first book, Masala Chai, with the hope of raising awareness about the problems of the poor so that steps can be taken toward the eradication of poverty. |